The Daily Audio Bible

David hears that Saul is dead

1 After David had won the fight against the Amalekites, he returned to Ziklag. He stayed in Ziklag for two days. Saul had already died.^{[a] 2} The next day, a man arrived from the camp of Saul's army.^[b] He had dirt on his head and he had torn his clothes. When the man met David, he threw himself down on the ground to give honour to David.

³ David asked him, ‘Where have you come from?’

The man replied, ‘I have run from the Israelite army's camp.’

⁴ David said, ‘Tell me what happened in the battle.’

The man replied, ‘The Israelites ran away and the enemy killed many of them. Even Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.’

⁵ When the young man told this to David, David asked him, ‘How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?’

⁶ The young man said, ‘I was on Gilboa mountain. I saw Saul there. He had to use his spear like a stick to help him to stand. The enemy army with its horses and chariots were getting very near to him. ⁷ Saul turned round and he saw me. He shouted to me and I said, “Here I am, sir.”

⁸ He asked me, “Who are you?”

I said to him, “I am an Amalekite.”

⁹ He said to me, “Stand over me and kill me. I have a lot of pain and I am almost dead.”

¹⁰ I knew that he would soon fall down. He was too weak to live. So I stood over him and I killed him. Then I took the crown from his head and the ring that was on his arm. I have brought them here to you, my lord.’

¹¹ Then David tore his clothes because he was very upset. The men who were with him did the same thing. ¹² They cried and they wept until the evening. They did not eat any food. They were very upset about Saul and Jonathan, and all the Lord's people.^[c] They were sad because so many Israelites had died in the battle.

¹³ David asked the young man who had brought the report to him, ‘Where are you from?’

The man replied, ‘I am an Amalekite, the son of a foreign man who lives in Israel.’

¹⁴ David said to him, ‘The Lord had chosen Saul to be Israel's king. You should have been very afraid to kill him!’

¹⁵ Then David said to one of his own young men, ‘Go and knock him down!’ So the man knocked him down so that he died. ¹⁶ David had said to the Amalekite, ‘You deserve to die because of what you have said. Your own words show that you did a bad thing. You yourself said, “I have killed the Lord's chosen king.” ’

David's song to remember Saul and Jonathan

¹⁷ David sang this song to remember the death of Saul and his son Jonathan. ¹⁸ He said that the people in Judah should learn this song. Its name is ‘The Bow’. It is written down in the Book of Jashar.^[d]

The people anoint David as king over Israel

2 After some time, David asked the Lord, ‘Should I go up to one of Judah's towns?’

The Lord said to him, ‘Go up.’

David asked, ‘Where should I go?’

The Lord replied, ‘Go to Hebron.’

² So David went up to Hebron. He took his two wives with him. They were Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, Nabal's widow, from Carmel. ³ David also took the men who had been with him. Each man took his family. They lived in Hebron and in the towns near there. ⁴ Then the men of Judah's tribe came to Hebron. They anointed David as king over Judah's people.

David thanks the people of Jabesh Gilead

David heard that the people from Jabesh Gilead had buried Saul's body. ⁵ So David sent men to them with a message. He said, ‘You were kind to Saul, your master, when you buried his body. So I pray that the Lord will bless you. ⁶ I pray that the Lord will keep you safe with his faithful love. I too will do good things for you, because of what you have done. ⁷ Saul, your master, is dead, so you must continue to be strong and brave. The people of Judah have now chosen me to rule them as king.’

David and his men fight against Saul's army

⁸ Ner's son Abner was the leader of Saul's army. He took Saul's son Ish-Bosheth to Mahanaim. ⁹ Abner gave Ish-Bosheth authority to rule as king over Gilead, Asher and Jezreel, as well as the tribes of Ephraim and Benjamin. So Ish-Bosheth became king of all Israel.

¹⁰ Saul's son, Ish-Bosheth, was 40 years old when he became king over Israel. He ruled Israel for two years. But Judah's people were faithful to David as their king. ¹¹ David remained in Hebron as king of Judah for seven and a half years.

Jesus says that he will soon die

²⁰ There were some Greek people among the people at the festival. They also had come to worship God. ²¹ These Greek people came to Philip, who was from a town in Galilee called Bethsaida. They said to him, ‘Please sir, we want to meet Jesus.’ ²² Philip went and he told Andrew this. Then Philip and Andrew went to Jesus and they told him.

²³ Jesus said to them, ‘God will show how great the Son of Man is. It is now time for that to happen. ²⁴ I tell you this: A seed of wheat continues to be only a single seed unless it falls into the ground. It must fall into the ground and then it must die. If it dies like that, it will grow to give a lot of seeds.

²⁵ Anyone who loves his own life will lose it. But anyone who hates his life in this world will have true life for ever with God. ²⁶ Anyone who wants to be my servant must follow me. Then he will be with me, where I am. My Father will praise anyone who is my servant. ²⁷ Now I have trouble in my mind. What will I say? I might say, “Father, save me from this time of trouble!” But this difficult time is the purpose for which I came to the world. ²⁸ So I will say, “Father, show how great and how good you are.” ’

Then a voice spoke from heaven and said, ‘I have shown how great and how good I am. And I will do it again.’ ²⁹ The crowd of people who were standing there heard the sound of this voice. They said that it was like the noise of thunder in a storm. But other people said, ‘An angel spoke to him!’

³⁰ Jesus said, ‘When this voice spoke, it was not so that it could help me. No, it spoke so that it could help you. ³¹ It is time now for God to judge the people in this world. Now he will throw out the ruler of this world. ³² But when people lift me up from the ground, then I will bring everyone to myself.’ ³³ Jesus said this to show in what way he would soon die.^[a]

³⁴ The crowd said, ‘The Bible tells us that the Messiah will continue for ever. So why do you say, “People must lift up the Son of Man”? Who is this Son of Man?’ ³⁵ Jesus answered, ‘The light will be with you for only a short time longer. So continue to walk while you still have the light. Do that, so that the dark will not come over you. Anyone who walks in the dark does not know where they are going. ³⁶ While you still have the light with you, believe in that light. So then you will become children of light.’ When Jesus had said this, he went away. He hid himself from them.^[b]

Many people still do not believe in Jesus

³⁷ Jesus had done many miracles that the people themselves had seen. But even then, they still did not believe in him. ³⁸ This showed that the prophet Isaiah had spoken true words when he said:^[c]

³⁹ Isaiah spoke also about why the people could not believe.^{[d] 40} He said:

⁴¹ Long ago, Isaiah saw the great glory of Christ. That is why he said these things. He was speaking about Jesus.

⁴² But even at that time, many of the Jewish leaders did believe in Jesus. But they were afraid of the Pharisees. So they did not tell people that they believed. They were afraid that the Pharisees would send them away from their meeting places. ⁴³ The Pharisees wanted other people to praise them, more than they wanted God to praise them.

Jesus' message warns people

⁴⁴ Jesus said in a loud voice, ‘Anyone who believes in me does not believe only in me. That person believes also in the one who sent me. ⁴⁵ Anyone who looks at me does not see only me. They see also him who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come into the world to be a light for people. Everyone who believes in me will not remain in the dark. That is why I came. ⁴⁷ Not everyone who hears my words will obey them. I will not judge anyone who is like that. I did not come to judge the people in the world. I came to save them. ⁴⁸ But there is something that will judge people who refuse to believe in me. Those are people who do not accept my message. The message that I have spoken will itself judge people like that on the last day. ⁴⁹ The words that I have spoken did not come from me myself. They came from the Father, who sent me. He told me what message I must speak. He told me the words I must say. ⁵⁰ The message that the Father has given me causes people to have life for ever. I know that. So I speak only those things that the Father has said to me.’